Get to know 'Ms. Mary' McIntosh of Theodore, 100

THEODORE, Alabama — “Ms. Mary” McIntosh of Theodore turned 100 on Nov. 28, and celebrated the century mark with a party in her Theodore home, just off Bellingrath Road.

Attending were about 75 well-wishers, among them her many friends; members of her church, First Baptist of Theodore; her children; and some of her 40 grandchildren, 38 great-grandchildren and 16 great-great grandchildren.

McIntosh and her husband, Sherman, came from Kentucky to Theodore in 1946. She’d helped him raise his six children from a previous marriage, and the two had five children together. At the time of the move, the oldest, Ann, was 16; the youngest, P.E., was a baby.

McIntosh has seen tragedy in her long life. When she was just a toddler, her nightgown caught fire from an open fireplace. Her mother grabbed her and rushed to the creek behind the family home, and though Mary lived, her mother died shortly thereafter.

Ann Armstrong, the daughter with whom Ms. Mary now lives, said that because of the burns, the little girl did not start school until she was 8 years old. She continued her education through eighth grade, the highest level available.

P.E. McIntosh’s version of his mother and father’s union is that the first time Sherman saw Mary at the Hazard, Ky., general store, “he offered her an ice cream cone, and for the next 46 years, they were a team.”

McIntosh never worked outside the home, but Armstrong said her mother cooked a hot meal every day for the students who attended the little one-room rock schoolhouse that sat on five acres that her father had donated in Kentucky.

And, Armstrong said, her mother “canned everything.” Without any lessons, she quilted beautifully. She sewed; she crocheted; she made rag rugs.

Sherman McIntosh worked for the L&N Railroad, and when the couple arrived in south Mobile County, they bought 96 acres, Armstrong said.

“We had a strawberry patch, pear trees, satsuma orchards and 11 lots in corn and Christmas trees” and they shared with everybody, she said.

Ms. Mary’s family feels blessed to have had their mother so long, P.E. McIntosh said.

“This feisty 4’7” woman set an extraordinary, positive example for her children and others — never a negative word, always a prime example,” he said.

His father worked double shifts at the L&N Sibert Shops, and his mom supervised “the crew of kids” while tending cows, pigs, chickens and gardens,” he said. “We never missed a meal or church on Sunday.”

A few months ago, when the family took Ms. Mary to homecoming at First Baptist of Theodore, where she’s been a member since 1946, “She was treated like a rock star,” McIntosh said.

It’s not just her friends, family and church members who know and love Mary McIntosh, though.

“She knows God and God knows her,” said her son.

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This story was written by Jo Anne McKnight, Press-Register Correspondent.